Military families forced by shutdown to adjust

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SAN CLEMENTE Mackenzie Watson carried out armloads of bags – some steadied by her growing belly – to her car.

The 21-year-old and her Marine husband, a helicopter mechanic, are expecting a baby girl in less than three weeks, and they want to be ready when she arrives. With Camp Pendleton's three commissaries closed – casualties of the federal government shutdown – Watson has to come to San Clemente to shop rather than going a mile down the road from her base housing.

Food prices for items such meat, eggs and milk are lower at commissaries than at commercial grocers. There are Saturday sales. Purchases are tax-free.

“When it comes to filling up your cart, it makes a difference,” she said.

Watson takes the commissary closures in stride. But what she and other mothers at the sprawling 125,000-acre seaside base are more concerned about is what happens when paychecks are due. Will they be on time? Word on base is that delays can be expected, she said.

“As a whole, I think it's a big deal,” she said. “My husband said civilians who work in the shop with him were sent home. I've seen people working at the commissaries, and they're just teens or older women like my mom. They're not as protected as the military. The delay in our pay is scary, but we'll get a check. The civilians aren't assured a check. Civilians rely on their jobs to pay for their living. I'm sympathetic to that.”

At Camp Pendleton, 1,163 workers Monday were told they are on unpaid leave. All three commissaries were closed indefinitely starting Tuesday.

Exempt civilian workers include police, fire and paramedics who work at the base. Civilians who supervise firing ranges and support training and air operations will not be furloughed.

Jim Cunningham, an attorney who represents 800 civilian police on Camp Pendleton and all of Marine Corps Installations West's bases, said that while some civilian police are working as first responders and on the ranges, they'll work for free.

“Civilian gate guards are ordered to work next to Marines and are not getting paid,” he said. “Ten percent are at home, 90 percent are not getting paid. Morale and security is difficult. They still have to pay for gas to get to work and pay for breakfast and lunch.”

Civilian police at the base are responsible for traffic investigations and crime at the base. Likely response times and traffic enforcement will be limited, Cunningham said.

Cunningham said civilian workers with work or non-work-related injuries and hired by the Department of Defense to do light-duty jobs have been furloughed and are home on disability.

In all, 3,581 employees within the Marine Corps Installations West – which includes Camp Pendleton – are furloughed. The Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton is open. This is the second furlough this year. A furlough earlier this year at Camp Pendleton sent 1,500 civilian employees home. The commissaries were closed Mondays.

David Brown, professor of economics at UC Irvine, said furlough effects from the Marine base will ripple through south Orange County cities. Because many of the civilian workers out of jobs live in cities that surround the base where more than 40,000 Marines are based, restaurants, bars, dry cleaners and retail stores will likely be hardest hit.

“The first thing you do is cut back on the nonessentials,” he said. “The commissary closures could counteract those effects and could actually be beneficial.”

Brown said the longer the federal shutdown continues, the greater the effects on the county's economy will be. Suppliers to the base could also be affected if base officials begin cutting back on orders placed from Orange County companies.

Chelsea Foster, 23, whose husband has been deployed twice and just re-enlisted, said she is seeing effects on children's activities at the base. School-age children won't have sporting events. Children can go to practices, but there won't be games. On Tuesday, she was shopping at Ralphs in Oceanside.

Just a few feet from where Foster loaded her grocery bags, Army Spec. Sean Marquez, was hanging out with some friends. Transitioning from the Army, he recently returned to Oceanside after serving four years.

The 23-year-old, who was deployed to Iraq, said he joined the armed forces for the benefits the military promises.

He endured a stall in pay once in 2011. He was deployed then, so the effects weren't the same.

“Now, it's a big deal,” he said. “My girl is pregnant, and I want to go to school. If the Veterans Administration is stopped, I won't be able to get my check to get a place to live or go to school.”

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